Re: How to configure GNAT GPL on x86-64 Linux for ARM ELF development

[Brian Drummond <brian@shapes.demon.co.uk>]

On Fri, 25 May 2018 04:45:16 +0000, Adam Jensen wrote:

> On Thu, 24 May 2018 12:12:26 +0000, Brian Drummond wrote:
> 
>> The error you saw "Cannot find system.ads" and Simon's answer arise
>> 
>> SPARK qualification would be excellent ... again, especially for the
>> Hercules. And again, a SPARK proven ZFP RTS would be a good base to
>> build on, and a relatively simple place to start.
> 
> Is it common for developers to create their own run-time system for
> embedded platforms? My inclination would be to look for hardware based
> on 1) RTS availability/quality and 2) toolkit complexity/completeness
> (completeness implies useful documentation). 

Not common, no. But RTS availability (esp. SPARK RTS) has to start 
somewhere, and for the MSP430 I didn't really develop one, just adapt 
from AVR-Ada.

With remarkably little feedback on that project, I admit I've put 
remarkably little effort into pushing it further. But I want it for my 
own purposes, the watch is just a pretty by-product.


> Given that, which seems
> like an obvious thing to do, I am surprised that Adacore does not have
> more apparent associations with hardware vendors where dev-kits and SBC
> products are promoted. I bought the Nucleo-144 board because I thought
> there was a BSP, RTS, and a tool-chain configuration tutorial. That
> turned out to be a bit of a mistake and generally a poor choice. 

Not Adacore ... there isn't much hobbyist money for them, given their 
business model. They do publicise occasional hobby-level projects like 
Lego Mindstorms and Certyflie, but I don't see them making money off it.

Meanwhile we have to support each other, perhaps your work on Nucleo can 
feed back into Simon's RTS and expand its supported platforms.

-- Brian